'They're just amazing' Hospice funds plea after emotional wedding day

A MUM-OF-TWO from Bristol has urged people to donate to hospice care, after one organised a last-minute wedding so her terminally-ill mother could watch her marry the love of her life.

- Rachael DAVIS

Jodie Williams, left, was able to celebrate her wedding with her mum Chelle, right

Jodie Williams, 36, lost her mum Chelle Rawlings on September 23, 2024. She had mucosal melanoma, a rare and aggressive melanoma that develops in the mucous membranes in the mouth, nose and throat, among other areas.

Chelle was just 57 when she was diagnosed in October 2023, after a routine operation that exposed the tumour, and her health rapidly declined.

Jodie was due to marry Joe, her partner of 10 years and with whom she now has two sons, Oscar and Teddy, in September 2024. Just a week before their wedding, Jodie was told that her mum's health had declined and that it was unlikely she would survive to see her only daughter get married.

The team at St Michael's Hospice in Hereford pulled together a beautiful wedding blessing in just 18 hours, enabling Chelle to see Jodie and Joe tie the knot - a feat Jodie describes as “amazing”.

Now Jodie is campaigning to encourage people to donate and fundraise for their local hospices.

Jodie is so glad to now have “all of my memories of that day with her there, being so happy and so content”, she said. “For the whole family, we just feel incredibly grateful to the hospice and just so happy that those memories include her.”

Chelle had no obvious symptoms of cancer before her diagnosis. She had had a runny nose, which doctors thought was because of a deviated septum, but during a surgery to correct the suspected deviated septum, surgeons discovered a tumour. It was a very aggressive sort of melanoma called mucosal melanoma,’ Jodie said.